At the beginning of the month, we held a bbq for a mission team from the Spokane, WA Moody Bible Institute. We had a great time sharing our ministry with them and Tara shared her testimony.

General Conference

Each weekend the beginning of April and October, the LDS Church holds its General Conference that draws thousands of LDS from all over. It’s a great time to get the Word out to lots of people. I ran into two guys that wanted me to read them what God said about monotheism from the Bible. When the subject of polygamy came up in early Mormonism, they gave the excuse that women needed care back in the day. I responded that this didn’t fit with Smith taking his 11 wives who were currently married to other men. They never heard of the polygamy article on LDS.org or the list of Smith’s wives on FamilySearch. They ended up taking a DVD.

With friends (including Moody) at Gen. ConferenceI later ran into an atheist who said, “You’re just getting them to jump from one cult to another.” I told him he’d only say that if he was an atheist. He asked for evidence. So I gave him the Big Bang and the fact that every event has a preceding cause to it, so the first event is no different. Then he asked, “Where did God come from?” I told him that’s a nonsense question like asking what’s north of the North Pole. He walked away and I told him that he needs to expand his mind more from the limitations of his physicalism.

I ran into Neil again at the very end of the night. We met last conference and enjoyed talking to each other. This time we talked about Rom. 4:5 in the Joseph Smith Translation, which says that God justifies “not” the ungodly, and we also talked about faith vs. works. He couldn’t buy that God justifies the ungodly.

Texas Trip

Tara, the kids, and I went to Texas for my birthday. Tara and I shared our Tara shares at Tomball Bibleministry at another Sunday school class at Tomball Bible Church. I was also able to share at a men’s fellowship breakfast.

Ex-Mormon Meetup

We had David Christensen, a friend from church, come share with our group. For the photos, see here.

New Site

We gave up the Meetup site, since it was costing us about $12 a month and they were bumping that up $3 more. So I started www.MeetTheExMormons.org, which is hosted by my brother’s www.EasySite.com. We continue to meet typically on the second Saturday of the month.

We Need Your Partnership!

We not only need your prayers, but we need your financial assistance as well. Keep in mind that your investment is not simply for us, but for the lives of others we reach with the gospel. The standard way to financially invest is by writing a check to Courageous Christians United (CCU). For more information on various ways to invest in this ministry, including online giving, please see our “Invest” page on any of our sites. Please keep in mind we have no financial guarantees each month. Ministry partners come and go as jobs do. If you’re not a partner, please consider joining our team and let us know soon. We’d love to be your missionaries here in Utah. Many thanks to those of you who hold us up in prayer and in your financial giving!

We expect God to provide for our needs through you. Why? Because the Bible is clear: “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).

1. Health and protection for our whole family
2. Tara’s family to be saved
3. Wisdom in all our dealings
4. Strength to keep going
5. Payson, UT LDS Temple Opening outreach began April 24th and will continue until May 23rd
6. For YouTube to reinstate our personal and ministry pages they deleted without warning on May 4th

****MAILBAG****

Very Happy Birthday wishes to the most considerate, understanding, non-confrontational...

I'm sorry, Rob, I just can't do it. Happy Birthday to the best truth-speaking, self-sacrificing, bold as a lion, missionary that I know! Thank the Lord for you and your work, and many blessings to you and the family.
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Is this a correct definition? The definition of the Trinity: God is one in nature; three in person

It was the defined conclusion that the Bishops at the Council of Nicea expressed

Also how is it you respond to those who ask why Jesus prayed to himself and seem to question the father regarding if there was any other way?

Your Trinity definition is insufficient for LDS who think God is a Godhead with 3 separate and exalted human persons. They're all one in their human nature.
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May God bless you in your sincere efforts to bridge Mormons to Christianity.
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I was on Youtube earlier and came across a link to a website called "JosephLied.com", now I guess known as "MormonInfo.org". As a 16-year-old Messianic Jew, I've been approached by Mormon Missionaries a number of times, noticing my kippah and asking me if I've read the Book of Mormon. I admit, I have done some skimming through the book with a friend of mine who was an ex-Mormon.

One day in particular, while I was at McDonald's, a missionary by the name of Joseph asked me this question, and I answered with a blunt "yes, I have actually" and then came the question "what did you think" I replied with a "it... it's something" trying to be polite as possible, though I was a little annoyed that I was being used as brownie points while I was just trying to enjoy my chicken nuggets on a Sunday afternoon. He replied with "you know, it's a Jewish book, right?"
I know about the whole thing about Ancient Jews called the Nephites or whatever sailing to America thousands of years before Columbus, and Joseph Smith finding their records on a gold plate that nobody else could see and then translating them out of a hat (I'll be honest, I'm probalby butchering the hell out of that story), which in itself is extremely far fetched, but if you have a rebuttal for me to those kinds of claims, I'd be happy to hear it! Thank you for your time!

God bless!

[I replied:] Anyone can make a claim, but it's up to that person to back it up. Further, there's a reason no non-Mormon anthropologist holds that Native Americans are Jewish. Watch DNA vs. The Book of Mormon.
Thanks for writing!
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Your newsletter was forwarded to me this week by a Christian friend living in Utah. Very encouraged to hear of your faith, obedience to God's call on your life and boldness in the work you do, from the little I know of your story. It seems like an amazing ministry and I will keep you and your family in my prayers.

I am writing from Australia, I work in our public hospital system here as a Hospital Chaplain and I was wondering if you might be able to suggest to me what you consider the best approach to a patient that is listed as a Mormon for their religious affiliation?

I would appreciate any suggestions you may have.

Blessings and grace,

[I replied:] Not quite sure. If I was in your position, I'd probably ask if it would be all right if you could have your patient watch http://goodnewsforlds.org/video.htmland see what he or she says about it. I'd also ask the patient to tell you their story and press him or her to explain why they think it's true. Hope that helps!

[She replied:] Thanks for your reply. It's helpful to hear you suggest to sit and ask them (Mormon patients) their beliefs. That's in line with our professional approach any way, so that is good. I will check out the link you sent too.
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We met the other day on temple square after the sat afternoon session. I talked with you about the opposed vote. Anyway, I recently posted a statistic on my facebook wall detailing the decline of percentage growth of the Mormon church, even with the addition thousands of missionaries in the field. It's received some pretty decent attention and some good/comments conversations.. but no one has really stirred the pot. (I like getting people to think). It would be great if you could post something about the doctrinal/historical issues that the church is facing/has faced and how that could be contributing to the lack of growth.. (because that is a very valid and probably very true side of the story).

I'm really undecided with where I stand with religion at the moment and I would appreciate if you could respect that by keeping my position confidential. Bottom line, I like to think, and I like getting other people to think and engage in meaningful dialogue. I think your voice would add greatly in a largely pro-mormon post.

If you promise to keep it very civil, no ad hominum attacks, nothing outrageous, and generally well-tempered I would LOVE to have your opinion. Mainly, if you could present in a very logical manner - perhaps appeal to pathos if you know people emotionally effected by the untruths - but the main contradictions (CESletter type stuff) or that you view to be the biggest problems and why this could be holding back new converts. Sorry if this sounds like I'm talking down to you, I just know how passionate you are and I also know that it comes off wrong to a lot of people. This is a post I care about but would just like to incorporate the opposite opinion into the thread. Do you think you could help me out?

[I replied:] Good to hear from you again. https://www.facebook.com/rob.sivulka Add me on FB. I'm respectful and don't use ad hominems, however, I'm very protective of my time. That's why I don't troll around and argue much on other sites. Jesus talked about throwing pearls before swine and shaking the dust off your sandals.
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Thank you very much for the good laugh. I love these uneducated arguments. The protester tonight made me laugh a lot too. Thanks again for the entertainment!
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So how do I get across to someone that Mormonism is not Christianity?

in a very nice, non judgmental , loving, understanding way

[I replied:] Depends on the situation. You do your best, loving and prayerfully, but in the end, don't be surprised when the world hates you as Christ said. If no one does, then you aren't doing your job.

[He replied:] Thanks for getting back to me! I appreciate you taking the time to do that. Once last question, about someone I have been wondering about

Shawn McCraney?? I like how he debates Mormons, but you don't seem to think the same way....

I have a friend from high school who is mormon and through him I had the opportunity to go to one of his church services. He then took me to a temple (?) Where I watched the informative video of Joseph Smith and the founding of the church. I am grounded in my Christian faith so this experience was solely educational. I have done a significant amount of research on the Mormon religion. However, I am very unsure of how to witness to my friend. He is currently serving his required mission trip but we keep in contact via email. He sends me long messages about all the mission work he is doing and I never know what to say back. I have no idea how to tell him how wrong his faith is without feeling like he is going to no longer want to talk to me. I don't know how to start the conversation and I feel as if I only have one shot to convince him to question his whole life. Any insight on how to witness to him would be great!

[I replied:] You should tell him that you found an interesting web site that you'd like his take on, since the main page lists out differences between Mormonism and Christianity [MormonInfo.org]. Let me know how it goes!
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Yesterday you thanked me for supporting your ministry. You and Tara have blessed my life much more than what I've done for you. Thank you. Praise Jesus!